NATO summits are not regular meetings like the more frequent NATO ministerial meetings, but rather are important junctures in the alliance's decision-making process on the highest level. Summits are often used to introduce new policy, invite new members into the alliance, launch major new initiatives, and build partnerships with non-NATO countries.

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From the founding of NATO in 1949, there have been a total of twenty-eight NATO summits; the last of which was the 2017 Brussels summit held in May 2017. Only the traditional summits have received an official number, thereby excluding the exceptional summit of 2001 in NATO headquarters.[2]

1.
Head of State
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A head of state is the public persona that officially represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state. In some countries, the head of state is a figurehead with limited or no executive power, while in others. Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of models. An independent nation state normally has a head of state, the non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or very limited executive powers, and mainly has a ceremonial and symbolic role. In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature and it also gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, the legitimacy of the head of state typically derives from the tacit approval of the people via the elected representatives. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system, usually, the king had the power of declaring war without previous consent of the parliament. For example, under the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Italy, the Statuto Albertino—the parliamentary approval to the government appointed by the king—was customary, so, Italy had a de facto parliamentarian system, but a de jure presidential system. These officials are excluded completely from the executive, they do not possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal, hence their states governments are not referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state styles of His/Her Majestys Government or His/Her Excellencys Government. Within this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions may exist, the constitution explicitly vests all executive power in the Cabinet, who is chaired by the prime minister and responsible to the Diet. The emperor is defined in the constitution as the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people and he is a ceremonial figurehead with no independent discretionary powers related to the governance of Japan. Today, the Speaker of the Riksdag appoints the prime minister, Cabinet members are appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the prime minister. In contrast, the contact the President of Ireland has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the taoiseach to the president. However, he or she has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of the Taoiseach. The president does, however, hold limited reserve powers, such as referring a bill to the court to test its constitutionality. The most extreme non-executive republican Head of State is the President of Israel, semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be answerable to both the president and the legislature. The constitution of the Fifth French Republic provides for a minister who is chosen by the president

2.
Head of Government
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The term head of government is often differentiated from the term head of state, as they may be separate positions, individuals, and/or roles depending on the country. In parliamentary systems, including constitutional monarchies, the head of government is the de facto leader of the government. For example, in the United Kingdom, the prime minister advises the Queen on the appointment of the cabinet, advice she is required to accept. On the other hand, the Queens long service as the head of state enables her to provide the prime minister with information and insight into many matters to better run the government. However, because the United Kingdom is a monarchy, the Prime Minister uses his or her own discretion regarding whether or not to follow the Queens advice. The Queen also is entitled to appoint a new Prime Minister, in presidential republics or in absolute monarchies, the head of state is also usually the head of government. The relationship between that leader and the government, however, can vary greatly, ranging from separation of powers to autocracy, in semi-presidential systems, the head of government may answer to both the head of state and the legislature, with the specifics provided by each countrys constitution. A modern example is the present French government, which originated as the French Fifth Republic in 1958, in France, the president, the head of state, appoints the prime minister, who is the head of government. In some cases, the head of state may represent one political party, in this case, known as cohabitation, the prime minister, along with the cabinet, controls domestic policy, with the presidents influence is largely restricted to foreign affairs. In directorial systems, the executive responsibilities of the head of government are spread among a group of people, a prominent example is the Swiss Federal Council, where each member of the council heads a department and also votes on proposals relating to all departments. A common title for many heads of government is prime minister, various constitutions use different titles, and even the same title can have various multiple meanings, depending on the constitutional order and political system of the state in question. In addition to prime minister, titles used for the democratic model, some of these titles relate to governments below the national level. Have been used by various Empires, Kingdoms and Princely States of India as a title for the Prime Minister, maltese, In Malta, the head of government is Prim Ministru. In this case, the prime minister serves at the pleasure of the monarch, some such titles are diwan, mahamantri, pradhan, wasir or vizier. However, just because the head of state is the de jure dominant position does not mean that he/she will not always be the de facto political leader, in some cases, the head of state is a figurehead whilst the head of the government leads the ruling party. In some cases a head of government may even pass on the title in hereditary fashion, the ability to vote down legislative proposals of the government. Control over or ability to vote down fiscal measures and the budget, all of these requirements directly impact the Head of governments role. Many parliamentary systems require ministers to serve in parliament, while others ban ministers from sitting in parliament, heads of government are typically removed from power in a parliamentary system by Resignation, following, Defeat in a general election

3.
NATO
–
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved

NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 and was ratified by the United States that August.
NATO
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Flag
NATO
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The German Bundeswehr provided the largest element of the allied land forces guarding the frontier in Central Europe.
NATO
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Reforms made under Mikhail Gorbachev led to the end of the Warsaw Pact.

4.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

5.
1974 Brussels summit
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The 1974 Brussels summit was the second NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on June 26,1974 and this twenty-fifth anniversary event was only the third meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4,1949. The organization faced a challenge, and the unresolved questions concerned whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been. The 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon caused Gerald Ford to become the new head of the American government. The general discussions focused on the need to confirm the dedication of member countries of the Alliance to the aims, in addition, there were informal consultations on East-West relations in preparation for US-USSR summit talks on strategic nuclear arms limitations. NATO leaders signed of the Declaration on Atlantic Relations which had adopted by NATO foreign ministers in meeting in Ottawa a week earlier. EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R, the promise of alliance, NATO and the political imagination. ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1974

1974 Brussels summit
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Map of NATO members

6.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie

7.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels

8.
1975 Brussels summit
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The 1975 Brussels summit was the third NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on May 29–30,1975 and this event was only the third meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4,1949. EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R, the promise of alliance, NATO and the political imagination. ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1975

1975 Brussels summit
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Map of NATO members

9.
1977 London summit
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The 1977 London summit was the 4th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in London took place on 10–11 May 1977 and this event was only the fifth meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. In this period, the organization faced unresolved questions concerned whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been, EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R. The promise of alliance, NATO and the political imagination, ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1977

1977 London summit
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Map of NATO members

10.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

11.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area

12.
1978 Washington summit
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The 1978 Washington summit was the 5th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Washington, D. C. took place on May 30–31,1978 and this event was only the fifth meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4,1949. In this period, the organization faced unresolved questions concerned whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been, EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R. The promise of alliance, NATO and the political imagination, ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1978

1978 Washington summit
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Map of NATO members

13.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing

14.
1982 Bonn summit
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The 1982 Bonn summit was the 6th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Bonn took place on June 10,1982 and this event was only the fifth meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4,1949. When the summit was held, there were sixteen members of NATO, in this period, the organization faced unresolved questions concerned whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been. The Bonn Summit addressed many issues and discussed many topics, most notable of these topics was the accession of Spain to NATO, as the summit was held years after the fall of Francisco Franco. The summit also voiced concern to the threat the Soviet Union posed to members of NATO. EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R, the promise of alliance, NATO and the political imagination. ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1982

1982 Bonn summit
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Map of NATO members

15.
Bonn
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The Federal City of Bonn is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of 311,287. About 24 km south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region, Germanys largest metropolitan area, the title of Federal City reflects its particular political status within Germany. Founded in the 1st century BC as a Roman settlement, Bonn is one of Germanys oldest cities, from 1597 to 1794, Bonn was the capital of the Electorate of Cologne, and residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne. Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born here in 1770, from 1949 to 1990, Bonn was the capital of West Germany, and it is here where Germanys present constitution, the Grundgesetz, was declared in 1949. From 1990 to 1999, Bonn served as the seat of government, two DAX-listed corporations, Deutsche Post DHL and Deutsche Telekom, have headquarters in Bonn. The city is the location of the University of Bonn, spanning an area of more 141.2 km2 on both sides of the River Rhine, almost three quarters of the city lie on the rivers left bank. To the south and to the west, Bonn is bordering the Eifel region which encompasses the Rhineland Nature Park, to the north, Bonn borders the Cologne Lowland. Natural borders are constituted by the River Sieg to the north-east, the largest extension of the city in north-south dimensions is 15 km and 12.5 km in west-east dimensions. The city borders have a length of 61 km. The geographical centre of Bonn is the Bundeskanzlerplatz in Bonn-Gronau, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is divided into five governmental districts, and Bonn is part of the governmental district of Cologne. Within this governmental district, the city of Bonn is an district in its own right. The urban district of Bonn is then divided into four administrative municipal districts. These are Bonn, Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Bonn-Beuel and Bonn-Hardtberg, in 1969, the independent towns of Bad Godesberg and Beuel as well as several villages were incorporated into Bonn, resulting in a city more than twice as large as before. In the south of the Cologne lowland in the Rhine valley, the history of the city dates back to Roman times. In about 12 BC, the Roman army appears to have stationed a small unit in what is presently the historical centre of the city, even earlier, the army had resettled members of a Germanic tribal group allied with Rome, the Ubii, in Bonn. The Latin name for that settlement, Bonna, may stem from the population of this and many other settlements in the area. The Eburoni were members of a tribal coalition effectively wiped out during the final phase of Caesars War in Gaul. After several decades, the gave up the small camp linked to the Ubii-settlement

16.
1985 Brussels summit
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The 1985 Brussels summit was the 7th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on November 21,1985 and this event was only the seventh meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4,1949. In this period, the organization faced unresolved questions concerned whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been, generational change in the leadership of the Soviet Union brought Mikhail Gorbachev to the international stage. EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R, the promise of alliance, NATO and the political imagination. ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1985

1985 Brussels summit
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Map of NATO members

17.
1988 Brussels summit
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The 1988 Brussels summit was the 8th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on 2–3 March 1988, in this period, the organization faced unresolved questions concerned whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher counseled that it was probably a good idea to do business with him and these fears were minimized by the Soviet announcement that troops were going to be withdrawn from Afghanistan. The unilateral withdraw of 500,000 troops and 10,000 tanks from Eastern Europe sent a message of change. The general discussions focused on the need for a reaffirmation of the purpose, other informal meetings explored what NATOs posture should be in its objectives for East-West relations. The summits work was directed towards adoption of a blueprint for strengthening stability in the whole of Europe through conventional arms control negotiations, EU summit G8 summit Thomas, Ian Q. R. The Promise of Alliance, NATO and the Political Imagination, ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3, OCLC36746439 NATO update,1988

1988 Brussels summit
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Map of NATO members

18.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

19.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth

Rome
Rome
Rome
Rome

20.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth

21.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile

22.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973

23.
2004 Istanbul summit
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The 2004 Istanbul summit was held in Istanbul, Turkey from June 28 to June 29,2004. It was the 17th NATO summit in which NATOs Heads of State, the summit consisted of four meetings. Due to Turkish government fears of a terrorist attack, security measures during the summit were tight and they especially feared a repetition of the Istanbul bombings of 2003 that killed more than 60 people. Their fear was proven by the arrest of 16 people in Bursa in early May on suspicion of planning to bomb the summit, on June 24 two bombs also exploded. One bomb went off in a bus in Istanbul killing 4 people, additionally, on June 25, explosives were found in a parked car at Istanbuls main airport. The Bosphorus Strait was also closed to oil tankers, the rail system was suspended. Nevertheless, a bomb or explosive devise blew up on an empty Turkish Airlines plane on June 29 as workers were cleaning it at the main Istanbul airport. Three of the workers were slightly injured, the extent of disruption caused by the security measures was criticized by several Turkish newspapers. The newspaper further added that people died because emergency services were unable to reach them, during June, there was a surge in demonstrations against the upcoming NATO summit, resulting in almost daily protests in Turkey. Throughout June, anti-NATO protestors from around the world gathered at Istanbul to demonstrate, a day before the summit, US president George W. Bush traveled to Ankara, the capital of Turkey for advance meetings with Turkish leaders. Then and during the demonstrations became larger and tens of thousands of Turks demonstrated in the streets of Istanbul. On June 28, demonstrators tried to disrupt the NATO meeting by staging several simultaneous mass demonstrations around the city, riot police sprayed tear gas at anti-NATO demonstrators as protesters and police clashed in running street battles. At least 30 people, including five officers, were injured when anti-NATO protesters throwing stones. Some 20 persons were detained in these protests, the police broke up a smaller crowd, detaining at least six persons, in the Mecidiyeköy area when they tried to march towards the summit about 3 km to the south. June 2004 was arguably of the most intense months of summitry in the history of transatlantic relations, once the North Atlantic Council meeting on June 28 was concluded, a statement called the Istanbul Declaration, Our security in a new era was issued. In this statement the leaders summarized the conclusions of the discussions. Several days before the summit, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described Afghanistan as priority number one, until then ISAF only provided security in around the capital city Kabul and commanded one PRT in Kunduz. The 26 members agreed to contribute between them an additional 600 troops and three helicopters to the Afghan mission, the three helicopters came from Turkey, and had gone back within three months

24.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age

25.
2006 Riga summit
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The 2006 Riga summit or the 19th NATO Summit was a NATO summit held in the Olympic Sports Centre, Riga, Latvia from 28 to 29 November 2006. The most important topics discussed were the War in Afghanistan and the future role, further, the summit focused on the alliances continued transformation, taking stock of what has been accomplished since the 2002 Prague Summit. NATO also committed itself to extend further membership invitations in the upcoming 2008 Bucharest Summit and this summit was the first NATO summit held on territory of a former USSR republic. The summit was held in the Olympic Sports Centre, Riga, roads in the center of Riga were closed down and parking was not allowed at the airport or at several roads, out of fear for car bombs. This enhanced ongoing Baltic Air Policing activities with additional aircraft, communications, the Council meeting was held on 29 November. Two rifts existed, one about the contributions to the war in Afghanistan. Before and during the summit US president George W, a number of NATO member states also pledged to provide additional assets, including fighters, helicopters, infantry companies as well as training teams that will mentor the Afghan National Army. The group was modelled on the one set up for the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s and it is difficult to see how NATO can succeed in stabilizing Afghanistan unless it is willing to commit more troops and give commanders more flexibility. The controversy surrounding the differences in contributions to Afghanistan indeed remained after the summit and they added that despite the earlier pleas for reinforcements or to have operational caveats removed, some countries, notably France and Germany, were still not heeding their requests. Besides the above discussion about contributions and caveats, the summit was noticed to paint a picture of the war in Afghanistan. For instance, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that progress had been made in Afghanistan. In his opinion, these challenges included besides military engagement mainly reconstruction, the second, more fundamental rift, concerned a discussion about whether NATO should form close relationships with countries far beyond NATOs borders, in particular Australia, Japan and South Korea. The United States and some other NATO members pressed for a relationship with these countries. R. Australia, South Korea and Japan are in Afghanistan and they have all been in Iraq in the Balkans. The idea of a global NATO however was opposed by France. The French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie summarized the position of France as follows, dilute the natural solidarity between Europeans and North Americans in a fuzzy entity send a bad political message, that of a campaign launched by the West against those who dont share their ideas. What a pretext we would offer to those who promote the idea of a clash of civilisations, as a consequence the debate continued after the summit. At the Riga summit, NATO members confirmed the role of NATO-led KFOR in the ensuring of a security environment there

2006 Riga summit
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Security measures in the streets of Riga.
2006 Riga summit
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Riga summit logo
2006 Riga summit
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Canadian forces in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The need for more troops in the south of the country was a major discussion point of the summit
2006 Riga summit
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NATO heads of state and government stand for the official portrait at the 2006 NATO Summit.

26.
Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language

27.
Riga
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Riga is the capital and the largest city of Latvia. With 696,593 inhabitants, Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states, the city lies on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the Daugava. Rigas territory covers 307.17 square kilometres and lies one and ten metres above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain. Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member, Rigas historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture during 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden, Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, and the 2006 IIHF Mens World Ice Hockey Championships. It is home to the European Unions office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, Riga is served by Riga International Airport, the largest airport in the Baltic states. Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities, another theory could be that Riga was named after Riege, the German name for the River Rīdzene, a tributary of the Daugava. The river Daugava has been a trade route since antiquity, part of the Vikings Dvina-Dnieper navigation route to Byzantium. A sheltered natural harbour 15 km upriver from the mouth of the Daugava — the site of todays Riga — has been recorded, as Duna Urbs and it was settled by the Livs, an ancient Finnic tribe. Riga began to develop as a centre of Viking trade during the early Middle Ages, Rigas inhabitants occupied themselves mainly with fishing, animal husbandry, and trading, later developing crafts. German traders began visiting Riga, establishing a nearby outpost in 1158, along with German traders also arrived the monk Meinhard of Segeberg to convert the Livonian pagans to Christianity. Catholic and Orthodox Christianity had already arrived in Latvia more than a century earlier, Meinhard settled among the Livs, building a castle and church at Ikšķile, upstream from Riga, and established his bishopric there. The Livs, however, continued to practice paganism and Meinhard died in Ikšķile in 1196, in 1198, the Bishop Berthold arrived with a contingent of crusaders and commenced a campaign of forced Christianization. Berthold was killed soon afterwards and his forces defeated, pope Innocent III issued a bull declaring a crusade against the Livonians. Bishop Albert was proclaimed Bishop of Livonia by his uncle Hartwig of Uthlede, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Albert landed in Riga in 1200 with 23 ships and 500 Westphalian crusaders. In 1201, he transferred the seat of the Livonian bishopric from Ikšķile to Riga, the year 1201 also marked the first arrival of German merchants in Novgorod, via the Dvina. To defend territory and trade, Albert established the Order of Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1202, open to nobles, in 1207, Albert started on fortification of the town. Emperor Philip invested Albert with Livonia as a fief and principality of the Holy Roman Empire, until then, it had been customary for crusaders to serve for a year and then return home

28.
2008 Bucharest summit
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The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 20th NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 –4 April 2008. Among other business, Croatia and Albania were invited to join the alliance, Macedonia was not invited due to its ongoing naming dispute with Greece. Georgia and Ukraine had hoped to join the NATO Membership Action Plan, protesters targeted the renewed determination of NATO to use nuclear weapons and NATOs backing of the US anti-missile shield. As said by Craig Kennedy in an introduction to the NATO Bucharest summit, the tensions in the Russia-NATO relationship. Romania received support from the United States, and U. S, under Secretary of State R. Romania has been a member of NATO since 14 March 2004. An invitation to join the Alliance was not extended to Macedonia, Greece had threatened on several occasions to veto the countrys NATO bid due to the longstanding naming dispute over the latters name. The last UN proposal before the summit was the name Republic of Macedonia, Athens argues that use of the name Macedonia implies territorial claims on its own region of Macedonia. Skopje denies this, citing constitutional amendments that specifically exclude territorial pretensions, NATO officials said the country could begin talks on joining the alliance as soon as it had resolved its dispute with Greece. According to politicians in Skopje, Athens has directly breached the Interim Accord, the governments that supported its membership bid argued that the country had completed the necessary reforms for membership, and that regional stability would be challenged if it did not join NATO. Senior officials in Skopje asserted that the country had fulfilled NATO requirements to join and was being punished for its identity, Russian President Vladimir Putin was invited to the summit, and he arrived on the second day to participate in bilateral NATO-Russia talks. He opposed the US plans to deploy missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia also opposed Georgia and Ukraines NATO membership bids. Romanian President Traian Băsescu said Romanias approach to the relationship with Russia was to leave behind the Cold War logic, U. S. President George W. Bush had a meeting at Neptun with President Băsescu about visas for one anothers countries and working on organising bilateral relationships. President Băsescu claimed Romania deserved to have relations with the US as it had sent troops to Iraq. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer opened the Securing our future expedition, the display Defence against terrorism was launched in the same exhibition and there were talks about NATOs involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and making it a success. President Bush and President Lech Kaczyński strongly supported Ukraine and Georgia becoming NATO action plan members, however, he was opposed by the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The British judgment is that, although there was support for both Ukraine and Georgia, the question of when they joined should remain in the balance. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France are of the same mind, President Bush said he is satisfied with the NATO commitment to Afghanistan. Countries such as France and Romania promised to send troops to support the NATO mission in Afghanistan

29.
Bucharest
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Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km north of the Danube River, Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and its architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the citys elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of Little Paris. Although buildings and districts in the city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic, in 2016, the historical city centre was listed as endangered by the World Monuments Watch. According to the 2011 census,1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits, the urban area extends beyond the limits of Bucharest proper and has a population of about 1.9 million people. Adding the satellite towns around the area, the proposed metropolitan area of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. According to Eurostat, Bucharest has an urban zone of 2,183,091 residents. According to unofficial data, the population is more than 3 million, Bucharest is the sixth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits, after London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the industrial centres. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional shopping arcades, the Romanian name București has an uncertain origin. Tradition connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur, who was a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman, in Romanian, the word stem bucurie means joy, and it is believed to be of Dacian origin. Other etymologies are given by scholars, including the one of an Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi. A native or resident of Bucharest is called a Bucharester, Bucharests history alternated periods of development and decline from the early settlements in antiquity until its consolidation as the national capital of Romania late in the 19th century. First mentioned as the Citadel of București in 1459, it became the residence of the famous Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler, the Ottomans appointed Greek administrators to run the town from the 18th century. A short-lived revolt initiated by Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 led to the end of the rule of Constantinople Greeks in Bucharest, the Old Princely Court was erected by Mircea Ciobanul in the mid-16th century. Under subsequent rulers, Bucharest was established as the residence of the royal court

30.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

31.
Kehl
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Kehl is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg, the village of Kehl was first mentioned in 1038. In 1338 the first permanent bridge between Kehl and Strasbourg was completed, in 1678 the city was taken over by France, as it was considered to be part of the defence system of Strasbourg. Hence the village was transformed into a fortress in 1683 by the French architect Vauban, in 1681, the Imperial City of Strasbourg, a territory of the Holy Roman Empire that included Kehl, was annexed by Louis XIV, King of France. This annexation was recognised by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, on May 7,1770, Marie Antoinette was officially handed over by Austria to France on an island on the Rhine near Kehl. This island was settled in the years before the First World War, in 1774, Kehl received town rights by the Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden. During the First French Empire, Kehl was reunited with Strasbourg under the French First Republic, after briefly being subject to Austria, the city was finally returned to Baden in 1815 and the fortress was dismantled. Between 1842 and 1847, the first port facility was created by the Baden State Railway Administration, in 1861, the first railway bridge was built and the first direct connection from Paris to Vienna was established, with locomotives being changed over in Kehl. During the Second World War, after the Battle of France, after the war, all citizens were expelled from Kehl. This state continued until 1953, when the city was returned to the Federal Republic of Germany, until 1519, Kehl was part of the diocese of Strasbourg. Then, the village had to change religion at the order of the margraves, during the French occupation of the 1690s, Kehl became Roman Catholic again, only to revert to Lutheranism after being ceded back to the margrave of Baden. From the early 19th century up to 1914, Lutherans and Catholics shared one building, then. Several free churches are situated in Kehl, as well as Mennonites, the French city of Strasbourg lies next to Kehl over the Rhine river. Kehl train station is located near the Pont de lEurope bridge, bus line 21 connects Kehl with the nearest tram stations in Strasbourg. A tram link to Strasbourg is also planned, as part of the extension of Strasbourgs tram line D, the latest forecasts in 2016 foresee this tram link becoming operational in 2017

32.
2010 Lisbon summit
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The 2010 Lisbon summit was a meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of NATO held in Lisbon, Portugal, on 19 and 20 November 2010. The member states adopted a new Strategic Concept, the alliances new ten-year plan following the expiration of the plan adopted at the 1999 Washington summit. In addition to accepting the Strategic Concept that addressed the alliances modern challenges such as terrorism and cyber attacks, the members met with President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai regarding the groups operations in the country. They agreed to withdraw combat forces from the country with a completion date of 2014. NATO reaffirmed their commitment to remain in Afghanistan to provide training and advice to Afghan forces, the summit took place in the Feira Internacional de Lisboa in Parque das Nações. It was the first summit presided over by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, source, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai, addressed the summit on 20 November. Armenia – Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan Australia – Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Georgia has been at the Intensified Dialogue stage of accession to NATO since 2006, jordan – Prime Minister Samir Rifai. Malaysia – Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, new Zealand – Foreign Minister Murray McCully. Russia – President Dmitry Medvedev, was the first Russian to attend since strained relations because of the 2008 South Ossetia war, singapore South Korea Sweden – Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. United Arab Emirates United Nations – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Going into the summit, prior to the summit, Secretary General Rasmussen personally prepared a draft of the plan. Rasmussen said the goal of the new Strategic Concept must reconfirm Natos core task – territorial defence – but modernise how we do it, including cyber defence, a group of experts led by former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright drafted a report to help prepare the plan. At meetings prior to the summit, officials said that the plan was 98% there, during the first day of the summit on Friday 19 November, the member states agreed to the new Strategic Concept that will serve as the alliances mission plan for the next 10 years. The document addressed the importance of evolving threats to international security, the 11-page document is titled Active Engagement, Modern Defence. President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai addressed the summit on Saturday 20 November, Karzai had said that he wants NATO to return control of the country by the end of 2014. Before the summit, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the NATO Summit in Lisbon is set to mark the point for passing responsibility for security progressively to Afghan forces. While meeting with Karzai, the agreed to a gradual phase-out of combat operations until 2014. After that date, NATO states would continue to contribute to training and advising the Afghan National Army, Secretary-General Rasmussen said we will launch the process by which the Afghan government will take leadership for security throughout the country, district by district

33.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north

34.
Lisbon
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Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with a population of 552,700 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km². Its urban area extends beyond the administrative limits with a population of around 2.7 million people. About 2.8 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and it is continental Europes westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, the westernmost areas of its metro area is the westernmost point of Continental Europe. Lisbon is recognised as a city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education. It is one of the economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector. Humberto Delgado Airport serves over 20 million passengers annually, as of 2015, and the motorway network, the city is the 7th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. The Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to 96.3 billion USD and thus $32,434 per capita, the city occupies 32nd place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinationals in the country are located in the Lisbon area and it is also the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia, adding to the name Olissipo. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, in 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city and since then it has been a major political, economic and cultural centre of Portugal. Unlike most capital cities, Lisbons status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed officially – by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal. It has one of the warmest winters of any metropolis in Europe, the typical summer season lasts about four months, from June to September, although also in April temperatures sometimes reach around 25 °C. Although modern archaeological excavations show a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, another conjecture based on ancient hydronymy suggests that the name of the settlement derived from the pre-Roman appellation for the Tagus, Lisso or Lucio. Lisbons name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela and it was later referred to as Olisippo by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. The Indo-European Celts invaded in the 1st millennium BC, mixing with the Pre-Indo-European population and this indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects

35.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage

36.
2014 Wales summit
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Such summits are sporadically held, and allow leaders and officials from NATO member states to discuss current issues of mutual concern and to plan strategic activities going forward. The 2014 summit has been described by Admiral James Stavridis as the most important since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the summit was hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron. There were another 180 VIPs, and 4,000 delegates, the entrance to the venue was fronted by a full-scale replica of a Eurofighter Typhoon. World leaders met at the Celtic Manor, and informally at other locales in and they discussed ongoing events in the world, such as terrorism, cyber warfare, and other areas of national security interest to the member states. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had a joint discussion with EU big four leaders and US President Barack Obama before the start of the Summit. The leaders of NATOs member states reaffirmed their pledge to spend the equivalent of at least 2% of their gross domestic products on defense, for countries which spend less than 2% they agreed upon that these countries aim to move towards the 2% guideline within a decade. In 2015, five of its 28 members met that goal, stützle said that the Russian Federation was not a military threat to NATO but criticized that new NATO members policies were not détente and negotiation with the Russian Federation. Protests, demonstrations and marches took place in Newport and Cardiff involving several hundred people, in both Newport and Cardiff, road closures and security measures, starting weeks in advance of the summit, created widespread disruption. Thirteen miles of security fencing,2.7 m high, was erected around the Newport hotel venue and ten miles of fencing put up around Cardiff city centre, businesses in the vicinity of security fencing in Cardiff reported a drop in trade by up to a third. This fencing was based on, and expanded, the National Barrier Asset which is held in reserve for similar events. Security included around 9,500 police officers patrolling the streets of the two cities, military helicopters including US Osprey V22s and the Royal Navy’s new £1bn Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan

37.
Newport, Wales
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Newport is a cathedral and university city and unitary authority area in south east Wales. It is located on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, at the 2011 census it is the third largest city in Wales, with a city population of 145,700 and an urban population of 306,844. The city forms part of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area with a population of 1,097,000, Newport has been a port since medieval times, when the first Newport Castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream and it grew significantly in the 19th century, when its port became the focus of coal exports from the eastern valleys of South Wales. Until the rise of Cardiff from the 1850s, Newport was Wales largest coal-exporting port and it was the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839 led by the Chartists. During the 20th century, when the docks declined in importance and it was granted city status in 2002. Newport hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010, the city was the venue for the 2014 NATO summit. It is the largest urban area within the county boundaries of Monmouthshire. The City of Newport, which includes surrounding rural areas as well as the built up area, is governed by Newport City Council. Bronze Age fishermen settled around the estuary of the River Usk. In AD75, on the edge of their empire. According to legend, in the late 5th century Saint Woolos church was founded by Saint Gwynllyw, the church was certainly in existence by the 9th century and today has become Newport Cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of Monmouth. The Normans arrived from around 1088–1093 to build the first Newport Castle and river crossing downstream from Caerleon, the settlement of Newport is first mentioned as novo burgus established by Robert, Earl of Gloucester in 1126. The name was derived from the original Latin name Novus Burgus, the city can sometimes be found labelled as Newport-on-Usk on old maps. The original Welsh language name for the city, Casnewydd-ar-Wysg means New castle-on-Usk, the original Newport Castle was a small motte-and-bailey castle in the park opposite Newport Cathedral. It was buried in rubble excavated from the Hillfield railway tunnels that were dug under Stow Hill in the 1840s and no part of it is currently visible. Around the settlement, the new town grew to become Newport, obtaining its first charter in 1314 and was granted a second one, by Hugh Stafford, in the 14th century friars came to Newport where they built an isolation hospital for infectious diseases. After its closure the hospital lived on in the place name Spitty Fields, austin Friars also remains a street name in the city

38.
Cardiff
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Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media. The unitary authority areas mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, the Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographics alternative tourist destinations, the city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities, the Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly, sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff International Sports Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park. The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major sporting events, first in 2009. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event. Caerdydd derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf, the change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology. This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages, Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning the fort of the Taff. The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans, the anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff and Llandaff. As English does not have the vowel the final vowel has been borrowed as /ɪ/, although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Gwynedd Pierce. A group of five Bronze Age tumuli is at the summit of The Garth, four Iron Age hill fort and enclosure sites have been identified within Cardiffs present-day county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of 5.1 hectares. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta that acted as border defences, the fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a settlement, or vicus, was established

39.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church

40.
G8 summit
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The G8 is an inter-governmental political forum of the world′s major highly industrialized economies in countries that view themselves as democracies. The summit came to be known as the Group of Seven, or G7, Russia was added to the political forum from 1997, which the following year became known as the G8. In March 2014 Russia was suspended following the annexation of Crimea, however, the European Union is represented at the G8 since the 1980s as a nonenumerated participant, but originally could not host or chair summits. The 40th summit was the first time the European Union was able to host, collectively, in 2012 the G8 nations comprised 50.1 percent of 2012 global nominal GDP and 40.9 percent of global GDP. G7 can refer to the states in aggregate or to the annual summit meeting of the G7 heads of government. The former term, G6, is now applied to the six most populous countries within the European Union. G7 ministers also meet throughout the year, such as the G7 finance ministers, G7 foreign ministers, or G7 environment ministers. Each calendar year the responsibility of hosting the G8 is rotated through the states in the following order, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy. The holder of the sets the agenda, hosts the summit for that year. Nevertheless, the G7/G8 retains its relevance as a group for the West. The concept of a forum for the major industrialized countries emerged prior to the 1973 oil crisis. When running the idea past President Nixon, he noted that he would be out of town and offered use of the White House, taking their name from the setting, this original group of four became known as the Library Group. In mid-1973, at the World Bank-IMF meetings, Shultz proposed the addition of Japan to the four nations. The informal gathering of senior officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Japan. Presidents, moreover, Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau was forced into an early election, of the members of the Group of Five, all were new to the job with the exception of Pierre Trudeau. S. President Gerald Ford could get together in a retreat and discuss election results. Until the 1985 Plaza Accord no one outside a tight official circle knew when the seven finance ministers met, the summit was announced the day before and a communiqué was issued afterwards. Following 1994s G7 summit in Naples, Russian officials held meetings with leaders of the G7 after the groups summits

41.
North Atlantic Treaty
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The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D. C. on 4 April 1949, is the treaty establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The treaty was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949 by a committee which was chaired by US diplomat Theodore Achilles and it was never shown to anyone except Jack. I wish I had kept it, but when I left the Department in 1950, I dutifully left it in the safe and I have never been able to trace it in the archives. It drew heavily on the Rio Treaty, and a bit of the Brussels Treaty, which had not yet been signed, but of which we were being kept heavily supplied with drafts. The eventual North Atlantic Treaty had the form, and a good bit of the language of my first draft. The treaty was created with an attack by the Soviet Union against Western Europe in mind. Rather, it was invoked for the first time in 2001 in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center, the following twelve nations signed the treaty and thus became the founding members of NATO. The following leaders signed the agreement as plenipotentiaries of their countries in Washington D. C, belgium – Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak and Ambassador Baron Robert Silvercruys Canada – Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson and Ambassador H. H. An Article 4 meeting was also convoked by Latvia, Lithuania, long-range artillery could be used across the border. The US said that Turkey has a right to action against the PKK. A news report also disclosed prior to the 28 July meeting that Turkey had violated Iraqi airspace in its pursuit of the PKK, the key section of the treaty is Article 5. Its commitment clause defines the casus foederis and it commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state, in Europe or North America, to be an armed attack against them all. It has been invoked only once in NATO history, by the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the invocation was confirmed on 4 October 2001, when NATO determined that the attacks were indeed eligible under the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty. Active Endeavour began on 4 October 2001, in April 2012, Turkish PM Erdogan considered invoking Article 5 of the NATO treaty to protect Turkish national security in a dispute over the Syrian Civil War. The alliance responded quickly and a spokesperson said the alliance was monitoring the situation closely and will continue to do so and takes it very seriously protecting its members. ”On April 17. On April 29, the Syrian foreign ministry wrote that it had received Erdogans message, on 5 August, Erdoğan stated that The tomb of Suleyman Shah and the land surrounding it is our territory. We cannot ignore any unfavorable act against that monument, as it would be an attack on our territory, everyone knows his duty, and will continue to do what is necessary. We have no intention to interfere militarily, the recording has been reported as being probably recorded at Davutoğlus office at the Foreign Ministry on 13 March

North Atlantic Treaty
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North Atlantic Treaty authentication page

42.
North Atlantic Council
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The North Atlantic Council is the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, consisting of Permanent Representatives from its member countries. It was established by Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the North Atlantic Treaty gave the NAC the power to set up subsidiary bodies for various policy functions, including a defense committee to implement other parts of the treaty. Since 1952, the NAC has been in permanent session, the NAC can be held at the Permanent Representative Level, or can be composed of member states Ministers of State, Defense, or Heads of Government. The NAC has the same regardless of the formation it meets under. The NAC meets twice a week, every Tuesday, for an informal lunch discussion, usually, meetings occur amongst the Permanent Representatives who are the senior permanent member of each delegation and is generally a senior civil servant or an experienced ambassador. The list of Permanent Representatives may be found on the NATO website, the 28 members of NATO have diplomatic missions to the organization through embassies in Belgium. The meetings of the NAC are chaired by the Secretary General and, there is no voting or decision by majority. Each nation represented at the NAC table or on any of its subordinate committees retains complete sovereignty and responsibility for its own decisions

North Atlantic Council
North Atlantic Council
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North Atlantic Council Conseil de l'Atlantique Nord

43.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations Allied Command Operations. Since 1967 it has been located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons, from 1951 to 2003, SHAPE was the headquarters of Allied Command Europe, ACE. Since 2003 it has been the headquarters of Allied Command Operations, SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe for legal reasons although the geographical scope of its activities was extended in 2003. At that time, NATOs command in Lisbon, historically part of the Atlantic command, was reassigned to ACO, an integrated military structure for NATO was first established after the Korean War raised questions over the strength of Europes defences against a Soviet attack. The first choice for commander in Europe was American General of the Army Dwight D, on December 19,1950, the North Atlantic Council announced the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first SACEUR. British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L, montgomery moved over from the predecessor Western Union Defence Organization to become the first Deputy SACEUR, who would serve until 1958. In establishing the command, the first NATO planners drew extensively on WUDO plans, General Eisenhower arrived in Paris on January 1,1951, and quickly set to work with a small group of planners to devise a structure for the new European command. The Planning Group worked in the Hotel Astoria in central Paris while construction of a permanent facility began at Rocquencourt, just west of the city, devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO’s forces, proved to be much more complicated. Drawing upon his World War II experience, General Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself, instead there would be three separate C-in-Cs. In December 1950 it was announced that the forces initially to come under General Eisenhowers command were to be the U. S, on April 2,1951, General Eisenhower signed the activation order for Allied Command Europe and its headquarters at SHAPE. Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe was activated in Fontainebleau, France in 1953, on the same day, ACEs subordinate headquarters in Northern and Central Europe were activated, with the Southern Region following in June. By 1954 ACEs forces consisted of Allied Forces Northern Europe, at Oslo, Allied Forces Central Europe, Allied Forces Southern Europe, hodes, United States Army Allied Forces Southern Europe – Admiral R. P. M. Two 1952 central region exercises involved air-ground combined forces, equinox was a major air-ground exercise involving French-American tactical air units and a French airborne infantry unit under the command of Général dArmée Alphonse Juin, French Army. They maneuvered east of the Rhine River in the British Zone under the command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale. Finally, Rosebud involved ground maneuvers by the U. S, seventh Army in the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany. The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear weapons, the conventional forces would attempt to hold this line while the allied strategic air forces defeated the Soviets and their allies by destroying their economy and infrastructure. What this strategy meant for the battle in the central region was described for publicity purposes in January 1954 by then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alfred Gruenther as. An air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate prior to attack, in doing so, the concentrating force would be extremely vulnerable to losses from atomic weapon attacks

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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The greater coat of arms of SHAPE, featuring the flags of the member states as supporters
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Organisation of ACE in 1952
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Main building at SHAPE
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Not to be confused with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.

44.
Allied Air Command
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The Allied Air Command is the central command of all NATO air forces and the Commander Allied Air Command is the prime air advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the responsible for the conduct of air operations. The command is based at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, during the early 1990s, following the relaxation of the tensions between East and West, a major reorganization of the NATO command and control structure was undertaken. This change in structure was marked by a ceremony at Ramstein on 1 July 1993, as a result, Denmark joined the six nations, which staffed the headquarters since its inception, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. On 3 March 2000, AIRNORTHWEST and AIRCENT were amalgamated, the new command was named AIRNORTH and also took over the air responsibilities of the former HQ BALTAP, and HQ NORTH. HQ AIRNORTH now included also personnel from Norway, Hungary, Poland, with the accession to NATO of seven new members in March 2004, the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as Slovakia became a part of AIRNORTH. On 1 July 2004, AIRNORTH was renamed Component Command-Air Ramstein, the Commander of AIRCOM is currently a United States Air Force General who also serves in the U. S. national appointment of Commander United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa. He is the designated Commander Allied Air Command for all air missions ask tasked by SACEUR, AIRCOM has a multinational staff, which may include liaison elements from other NATO headquarters and national commands as specified in agreements. The Deputy Air Commander is ordinarily a French or a British 3-star, one of its previously subordinate activities was Combined Air Operations Centre Finderup, in Denmark. There are also over 50 Control and Reporting Centres and Points, Baltic Region Training Events are held designed to offer training opportunities for enhancing interoperability, building capabilities and continuing the integration of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

45.
Allied Land Command
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Allied Land Command is the standing headquarters for NATO land forces which may be assigned as necessary. The Commander LANDCOM is the land warfare advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the responsible for the conduct of land operations. The command is based at Şirinyer, İzmir in Turkey, NATO has had a headquarters at Izmir for decades. Initially the organization there was Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe, responsible to Allied Forces Southern Europe at Naples. Under this command, with its headquarters in Izmir assisted by the subordinate Thessaloniki Advanced Command Post, were to be most of the Greek and Turkish armies in case of war. LANDSOUTHEAST was commanded by a United States Army lieutenant general, Lieutenant General Willard G. Wyman Lieutenant General Paul W. Kendall Lieutenant General George Windle Read, Jr. Lieutenant General Paul D. Harkins In 1966 the first major change occurred when French military personnel were withdrawn from LANDSOUTHEAST, on 30 December 1977, SHAPE and Turkish military authorities announced another change in the command structure of LANDSOUTHEAST, to be effective 1 July 1978. The command billet was to be filled by a Turkish Army four star general with a U. S. Major General as his deputy. General Sam S. Walker took command in 1977, and On 30 June 1978, General Walker handed over the command to General tr, Vecihi Akın, General Akın held command until 30 August 1979. Construction of a new facility in Sirinyer, Izmir was completed in March 1994. In July 1994, two German Army officers were assigned to the command for the first time, the headquarters garrison at Sirinyer was named General Vecihi Akin Garrison in March 1996, after the first Turkish LANDSOUTHEAST Commander. Turkish Land Forces General Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu commanded LANDSOUTHEAST from c. 1993-1996, after the end of the Cold War, for a period the NATO command in Izmir became Joint Command Southeast. Between 11 August 2004 and 1 June 2013 the headquarters of NATOs Allied Air Component Command in the south and it is responsible for providing a deployable land command for a joint operation. LANDCOM will also carry out the planning, conduct and direction of land operations. What this means is that if a single corps land operation is underway, if multiple corps are being directed, LANDCOM will direct them for either JFC Brunssum or Naples. On October 23,2014, Lt. Gen. Nicholson has assumed command of NATOs Allied Land Command and he succeeds Lt. Gen. Frederick Ben Hodges. Romania is leading the process of creating Multinational Division South-East, which will be established in Bucharest, Romania, the division in Bucharest will be subordinate to the NATO Force Integration Unit also to be established there

46.
Allied Maritime Command
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Allied Maritime Command is the central command of all NATO maritime forces and the Commander MARCOM is the prime maritime advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the responsible for the conduct of maritime operations. The command is based at the Northwood Headquarters in northwest London, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, gained a NATO responsibility as Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area, as part of SACLANT, when the NATO military command structure was established in 1953. CINCEASTLANT headquarters was established at the Northwood Headquarters in northwest London, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic was redesignated as Commander, Allied Maritime Component Command Northwood around 2004. The command, which was renamed Allied Maritime Command Northwood in 2010, at the 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon it was decided to create a leaner and more effective command structure. It is responsible for planning and conducting all NATO maritime operations, MARCOM leads four standing NATO maritime groups, two frigate groups and two mine countermeasures groups. The Standing NATO Maritime Groups are a multinational, integrated maritime force made up of vessels from allied countries, the ships and any aircraft aboard are available to NATO to support Alliance tasking. These groups provide NATO with a continuous maritime capability, the command is also responsible for additional naval assets as they support NATO missions. Current groups are, Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1, current operations include, Operation Active Endeavour and Operation Ocean Shield Official website

47.
NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Paolo Alli from Italy and its current Secretary General is David Hobbs from the United Kingdom, he has been in this position since January 2008. These measures included the Secretary General providing a response to all Assembly recommendations and resolutions adopted in its Plenary Sessions. In response to the fall of the Berlin wall at the end of the 1980s and those ties, in turn, greatly facilitated the dialogue that NATO itself embarked upon with the regions governments. Bringing together legislators from all the states of the Atlantic Alliance. At the same time, it facilitates parliamentary awareness and understanding of key security issues and contributes to a transparency of NATO policies. Crucially, it helps maintain and strengthen the relationship, which underpins the Atlantic Alliance. It played the role with respect to the ratification process leading to the accession of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in March 2004. The NATO PA consists of 257 delegates from the 28 NATO member countries, delegates to the Assembly are nominated by their parliaments according to their national procedures, on the basis of party representation in the parliaments. The Assembly therefore represents a spectrum of political opinion. The Assembly’s governing body is the Standing Committee, which is composed of the Head of each delegation, the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer. The headquarters of the Assembly’s 28-strong International Secretariat is located in central Brussels, the Assembly is directly funded by member parliaments and governments, and is financially and administratively separate from NATO itself. Each country’s contribution is based on the NATO Civil Budget formula, the five Committees are, Civil Dimension of Security, Defence and Security, Economics and Security, Political, Science and Technology. They are charged with examining all major issues in their fields. The Committees and Sub-Committees produce reports, which are discussed in draft form at the Assembly’s Spring Session, the reports are then revised and up-dated for discussion, amendment and adoption at the Assembly’s Annual Session in the Autumn. The NATO Secretary General responds in writing to the Assemblys recommendations, NATO-PA Delegations also undertake visits to NATO mission areas such as Afghanistan and the Balkans. The NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee was discontinued in April 2014 following Russias military intervention in Ukraine, the Rose-Roth Programme of partnership and co-operation is designed to extend assistance to countries undergoing transition through difficult political and economic reforms. The program was designed to support Central and Eastern European countries but has subsequently focused mainly on the Balkans

NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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The Parliamentary Assembly meeting in London prior to the start of the 2014 Newport summit

48.
Secretary General of NATO
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The Secretary General of NATO is an international diplomat who serves as the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. However, the Secretary General does not have any command role. Together with the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and the Supreme Allied Commander the Secretary General is one of the foremost officials of NATO, the current Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, who took office on 1 October 2014. Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty requires NATO members to establish a Council, accordingly, the North Atlantic Council was formed. Initially the Council consisted of NATO members foreign ministers and met annually, in May 1950, the desire for closer coordination on a day-to-day basis led to the appointment of Council deputies, permanently based in London and overseeing the workings of the organization. Deputies were given full decision-making authority within the North Atlantic Council, the Chairman of the deputies was given responsibility for directing the organization and its work, including all of its civilian agencies. The Council deputies met for the first time on July 25,1950, and selected Charles Spofford, several important organisational changes quickly followed the establishment of Council deputies, most notably the establishment of a unified military command under a single Supreme Allied Commander. This unification and the challenges facing NATO led to rapid growth in the institutions of the organisation and in 1951, NATO was reorganized to streamline. As the authority of the increased, and the size of the organization grew, NATO established the Temporary Council Committee. This group established an official secretariat in Paris to command NATOs bureaucracy, after the Lisbon Conference, the NATO states began looking for a person who could fill the role of Secretary General. The position was first offered to Oliver Franks, the British Ambassador to the United States, unlike later Secretaries General who served as Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, Ismay was made the Vice Chairman of the Council, with Spofford continuing to serve as chairman. Ismay was selected because of his rank in the war. As both a soldier and a diplomat, he was considered qualified for the position. Several months later, after Spofford retired from the NATO, the structure of the North Atlantic Council was changed slightly, Ismay served as Secretary General until retiring in May,1957. After Ismay, Paul-Henri Spaak, a diplomat and former Prime Minister of Belgium was selected as the second Secretary General. Unlike Ismay, Spaak had no experience, so his appointment represented a deemphasis of the strictly military side of the Atlantic Alliance. When confirming Spaaks appointment in December 1956 during a session of the NATO foreign ministers, the NATO Secretary General chairs several of the senior decision-making bodies of NATO. In addition to the North Atlantic Council, he chairs the Defence Planning Committee, in a second role, the Secretary General leads the staff of NATO

Secretary General of NATO
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Incumbent Jens Stoltenberg since 1 October 2014
Secretary General of NATO
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Hastings Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO

49.
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
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The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council on military policy and strategy. The Chairman is one of the foremost officials of NATO, next to the Secretary General, the current Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is Petr Pavel, former Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic, who took office on June 26,2015. The Military Committee was directly subordinate to the Defence Committee, iceland, which had no military forces, was represented by a civilian. Each member state in turn held the Chair of the Military Committee for one year, the principal military member of each NATO countrys delegation is the Military Representative, a senior officer from each countrys armed forces, supported by the International Military Staff. Its principal role is to provide direction and advice on military policy, like the Council, from time to time the Military Committee also meets at a higher level, namely at the level of Chiefs of Defence, the most senior military officer in each nations armed forces. Until 2008 the Military Committee excluded France, due to that countrys 1966 decision to itself from NATOs integrated military structure. Until France rejoined NATO, it was not represented on the Defence Planning Committee, such was the case in the lead up to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The operational work of the Committee is supported by the International Military Staff, the Chairman of the Military Committee chairs all meetings and acts in an international capacity. In his absence, the Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee takes the chair, the current Chairman is Czech General Petr Pavel. Since the formation of NATO, its Military Chairmen have been, Douglas S. Bland, The Military Committee of the North Atlantic Alliance, A Study of Structure and Strategy, New York, Praeger,1991

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
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Incumbent General Petr Pavel since 26 June 2015
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

50.
Albanian Armed Forces
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The Albanian Armed Forces are the military of Albania and were formed after the declaration of independence in 1912. Today, it consists of, the General Staff, the Albanian Land Force, Albanian Air Force, the President of Albania is the Commander-in-Chief of the nations military. In times of peace, the Presidents powers as Commander-in-Chief are executed through the Prime Minister, on 4 December 1912, the Albanian Prime Minister, Ismail Qemali and his government, formed the Albanian National Army. Its first Chief in Command was Lieutenant Colonel Ali Shefqet Shkupi By 1923, at that time, Albania did not have a navy. In 1927, the Albanian Armed Forces numbered approximately 8.000 and these troops were organized into three groups, based in Tirana, Shkodër to the north and Berat to the south. Each group was organized into three battalions of 500, a guards battalion of 350 was organized in Tirana. Four frontier battalions of mountaineers were held on reserve, as well as tanks, additionally, a cadet school, a machine-gun school, and a bombing school were housed in the capital. In 1927 alone, the Albanian military ordered 20,000 rifles,40 mountain guns,120 machine guns, the Royal Albanian Army was the army of King Zogu from 1928 until 1939. Its commander-in-chief was himself, its commander General Xhemal Aranitasi, its Chief of Staff was General Gustav von Myrdacz, the army was mainly financed by Italy. On 7 April 1939, Italian troops invaded the country, after the Second World War, Albania became a Soviet-aligned country. The ranks and the structure of the Albanian Armed Forces were organized based on the Soviet concepts, like all other branches of the state, the military was subjugated to Communist Party control. All high-ranking military officers and most of the lower and middle ranks were members of the Communist Party—and had loyalties to it, the system was re-enforced by the establishment of Party cells within the military and extensive communist political education alongside soldiers’ military training, by the political commissars. In 1991 the rank system was reestablished under President Ramiz Alia, initially the communist purge concentrated on the military personnel graduated by the Western Military Academies, extended later on to the officers graduated in Soviet Union. As the communist regime collapsed in Albania during 1990, there was a fear that the armed forces might intervene to halt the collapse of communism by force. In the event, the armed forces stood by as the regime of which they had been a part disintegrated, during the 1980s, Albania had reduced the number of infantry brigades from eight to four. It had shifted to fully manned units from its reliance on the mobilisation of reserve soldiers to flesh out a larger number of units manned at a lower level. Each brigade had three battalions and one lightly equipped artillery battalion. Armoured forces consisted of one tank brigade, artillery forces were increased from one to three regiments during the 1980s, and six battalions of coastal artillery were maintained at strategic points along the Adriatic Sea littoral

Albanian Armed Forces
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An Albanian T-59 tank during the Albania-Yugoslav border incident in May 1999.
Albanian Armed Forces
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Emblem of Albanian Armed Forces
Albanian Armed Forces
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Albanian soldiers conduct a joint patrol with U.S. soldiers in Iraq on 13 January 2005
Albanian Armed Forces
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The full set of commissioned officers ranks in the Albanian Army

51.
Belgian Armed Forces
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The Belgian Armed Forces is the national military of Belgium. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became independent in October 1830, since that time Belgian armed forces have fought in World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Kosovo, Somalia and Afghanistan. The ParaCommando Brigade intervened several times in Central-Africa, for maintaining public order, the Armed Forces comprise four branches, the Land Component, the Air Component, the Marine Component and the Medical Component. It is currently active in Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Gulf of Aden, the need for a regular army was however soon acknowledged. The basis for recruitment was one of conscription under which exemptions could be purchased by obtaining substitutes. In practice this meant that only about a quarter of each years eligible intake actually served, as part of the national policy of even-handed neutrality, the 19th century Belgian Army was deployed as an essentially defensive force in fortifications facing the Dutch, German and French borders. Mobilisation plans simply required reservists to report to their depots, without arrangements being made in advance for deployment in a direction or against a particular enemy. Recruitment difficulties caused the army to remain below its intended strength of 20,000 men, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 required full mobilisation for nearly a year, a process which showed up serious training and structural weaknesses. The presence of Belgian forces in strength along the borders did however ensure that the combat at no time spilled over into Belgian territory. In Belgium conscripts were selected through the drawing of ballots, and this system favored the well-off and had been discarded elsewhere as inefficient and unpatriotic. For those conscripted the terms of service required eight years in the regular army, various categories of volunteer enjoyed such privileges as being able to specify their branch of service, bounties and higher pay. The Papal Army based in Rome included from 1860 a battalion-sized unit known as the Tirailleurs Franco-Belges, recruited amongst volunteers from both countries, this became the Pontifical Zouaves in 1861 and fought as an allied force on the French side in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1864 a Corps Expeditionnaire Belge was raised for service in Mexico, originally intended to serve as the Guard of the Belgian-born Empress Charlotte this 1,500 strong force was largely drawn from volunteers seconded from the Belgian Army. Known popularly as the Belgian Legion, it saw service in Mexico as part of the Imperial forces. From 1885 the Force Publique was established as the garrison and police force in the Belgian Congo. Initially led by a variety of European mercenaries, this force was subsequently officered by Belgian regulars after 1908. From December 1904 a small detachment of Belgian troops was based in China as the Guard of the Belgian Legation in Peking. Reforms undertaken in the years of the 20th century included the abolition in 1909 of the system of drawing lots for the selection of the annual intake of conscripts

52.
Bulgarian Armed Forces
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The Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria, the Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while overall military command remains in the hands of the Defence Staff, headed by the Chief of the Defence. There are three branches, named literally the Land Forces, the Air Forces and the Naval Forces. Throughout history, the Army has played a role in defending the countrys sovereignty. During the Cold War the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria maintained one of the largest militaries in the Warsaw Pact, since the Fall of Communism, the political leadership decided to pursue a pro-NATO policy, thus reducing military personnel and weaponry. Bulgaria joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 29 March 2004, the patron saint of the Bulgarian Army is St. George. The Armed Forces Day or St. Georges Day is a holiday in Bulgaria. The modern Bulgarian military dates back to 1878, on 22 July 1878 a total of 12 battalions of opalchentsi who participated in the Liberation war, formed the Bulgarian armed forces. According to the Tarnovo Constitution, all men between 21 and 40 years of age were eligible for military service, in 1883 the military was reorganized in four infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade. The Serbo-Bulgarian War was the first armed conflict after Bulgarias liberation and it was a result of the unification with Eastern Rumelia, which happened on 6 September 1885. The unification was not completely recognized, however, and one of the countries that refused to recognize the act was the Kingdom of Serbia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been expanding its influence in the Balkans and was particularly opposed. Serbia also feared this would diminish its dominance in the region, in addition, Serbian ruler Milan Obrenović IV was annoyed that Serbian opposition leaders like Nikola Pašić, who had escaped persecution after the Timok Rebellion, had found asylum in Bulgaria. Lured by Austria-Hungarys promises of territorial gains from Bulgaria, Milan IV declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November 1885, Military strategy relied largely on surprise, as Bulgaria had moved most of its troops near the border with the Ottoman Empire, in the southeast. As it happened, the Ottomans did not intervene and the Serbian armys advance was stopped after the Battle of Slivnitsa, the main body of the Bulgarian army traveled from the Ottoman border in the southeast to the Serbian border in the northwest to defend the capital, Sofia. After the defensive battles at Slivnitsa and Vidin, Bulgaria began an offensive that took the city of Pirot, at this point the Austro-Hungarian Empire stepped in, threatening to join the war on Serbias side if Bulgarian troops did not retreat. Fighting lasted for only 14 days, from 14-28 November, a peace treaty was signed in Bucharest on 19 February 1886. No territorial changes were made to either country, but Bulgarian unification was recognized by the Great Powers, however, the relationship of trust and friendship between Serbia and Bulgaria, built during their long common fight against Ottoman rule, suffered irreparable damage. Instability in the Balkan region in the early 1900s quickly became a precondition for a new war, Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of its independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and Macedonia for expansion

53.
Canadian Armed Forces
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This unified institution consists of sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the National Defence Act, the Canadian Armed Forces are an entity separate and distinct from the Department of National Defence, the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces is the reigning Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented by the Governor General of Canada. The Canadian Armed Forces is led by the Chief of the Defence Staff, during the Cold War, a principal focus of Canadian defence policy was contributing to the security of Europe in the face of the Soviet military threat. Toward that end, Canadian ground and air forces were based in Europe from the early 1950s until the early 1990s, Canadian defence policy today is based on the Canada First Defence Strategy, introduced in 2008. Based on that strategy, the Canadian military is oriented and being equipped to carry out six core missions within Canada, in North America and globally. Prior to Confederation in 1867, residents of the colonies in what is now Canada served as members of French and British forces. Thereafter, the Royal Canadian Navy was formed, and, with the advent of military aviation and these forces were organised under the Department of Militia and Defence, and split into the Permanent and Non-Permanent Active Militias—frequently shortened to simply The Militia. By 1923, the department was merged into the Department of National Defence, the first overseas deployment of Canadian military forces occurred during the Second Boer War, when several units were raised to serve under British command. Similarly, when the United Kingdom entered into conflict with Germany in the First World War, the Canadian Crown-in-Council then decided to send its forces into the Second World War, as well as the Korean War. Since 1947, Canadian military units have participated in more than 200 operations worldwide, Canada maintained an aircraft carrier from 1957 to 1970 during the Cold War, which never saw combat but participated in patrols during the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the end of the Second World War, Canada possessed the fourth-largest air force and fifth-largest naval surface fleet in the world, conscription for overseas service was introduced only near the end of the war, and only 2,400 conscripts actually made it into battle. Originally, Canada was thought to have had the third-largest navy in the world and its roots, however, lie in colonial militia groups that served alongside garrisons of the French and British armies and navies, a structure that remained in place until the early 20th century. After the 1980s, the use of the Canadian Armed Forces name gave way to Canadian Forces, land Forces during this period also deployed in support of peacekeeping operations within United Nations sanctioned conflicts. The nature of the Canadian Forces has continued to evolve and they have been deployed in Afghanistan until 2011, under the NATO-led United Nations International Security Assistance Force, at the request of the Government of Afghanistan. The Armed Forces are today funded by approximately $20, the number of primary reserve personnel is expected to go up to 30,000 by 2020, and the number of active to at least 70,000. In addition,5000 rangers and 19,000 supplementary personnel will be serving, if this happens the total strength would be around 124,000. These individuals serve on numerous CF bases located in all regions of the country, and are governed by the Queens Regulations and Orders, the 2006 renewal and re-equipment effort has resulted in the acquisition of specific equipment to support the mission in Afghanistan. It has also encompassed initiatives to renew certain so-called core capabilities, in addition, new systems have also been acquired for the Armed Forces

54.
Republic of Croatia Armed Forces
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The total number of active military personnel in the Croatian Armed Forces stands at 14,506 and 6,000 reserves working in various service branches of the armed forces. In May 2016, Armed Forces had 16,019 members, of the 14,506 active military personnel,3,183 were officers,5,389 non-commissioned officers,5,393 soldiers,520 military specialists,337 civil servants and 1,176 other employees. Total available male manpower aged 16–49 number 1,035,712, male citizens are now no longer subject to compulsory military service since January 1,2008. However, the last generation of 2007 servicemen was also absolved of compulsory service by an act from then Minister of Defence Berislav Rončević. For example,1995 Croatian defense budget stood at 12.4 billion Croatian Kuna or just over 12% of GDP, a long term modernization plan, 2015-2024 has been published outlining overall goals and is available for download at the Ministry of Defence of Croatia website. At the moment the Croatian Air Force will keep 12 MiG-21bis fighter aircraft, the Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy acts as a school of higher learning responsible for training and educating future generations of military personnel. The academy consists of schools including Ban Josip Jelačić, Blago Zadro, Katarina Zrinska, the Officers Academy. The academy has 300 full-time staff and is the military academy in Croatia. Each year also 100-120 foreign nationals attend the academy, the Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organization of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, the Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime components. The wartime component of the Armed Forces includes all other reservists, the General Staff is part of the Ministry of Defense in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces. It also has a number of units under its command, including the Special Operations Battalion, Honor Guard Battalion. In peace, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through the Minister of Defence, in war and in cases where the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling his orders, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander. The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control over the Armed Forces by adopting defence strategy, defence budget, the command staff is composed of the members who served in the special units, guards brigades and reconnaissance units of the Croatian Armed Forces. Colonel Perica Turalija is the current commanding officer of the command, also, this means that members of all three branches of the Croatian armed forces can apply for selection. Other special operations units are the Military Intelligence Battalion and Special Military Police Company, the duties of an Honour Guard are performed by the Počasno zaštitna bojna, located at Zagreb in the Tuškanac military base. A $3-Billion modernization plan was proposed by the then Prime Minister Ivica Racan of the SDP led Government in 2003, with planned modernization starting in 2006 and ending in 2015. However it has been delayed in part due to the subsequent economic recession, a New Plan under the current Prime Minister Zoran Milanović should define exactly how and what the Croatian armed forces should look like by 2023

55.
Estonia Defence Forces
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The Estonian Defence Forces is the name of the unified armed forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian military is a force consisting of Land Forces, Navy, Air Force. A few days later Estonia was invaded by the forces of Bolshevist Russia. The small, poorly armed Estonian military, also known as the Peoples Force, was pushed back by the Red Army into the vicinity of the capital city of Estonia - Tallinn. A mere 34 kilometers separated Tallinn and the front line, partly due to the timely arrival of a shipment of arms brought by a British naval squadron the Bolsheviks were stopped. In January 1919, the Estonian armed forces launched a counteroffensive, the Ground Forces were supported by the Royal Navy as well as Finnish, Swedish and Danish volunteers. By the end of February 1919, the Red Army had been expelled from all of the territory of Estonia, on 2 February 1920, the Peace Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Republic of Estonia and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. After winning the Estonian Liberation War against Soviet Russia and German Freikorps volunteers, according to this treaty Estonia was to be occupied by the Soviet Union. The Estonian government was forced to give their assent to an agreement which allowed the USSR to establish military bases, on 12 June 1940, the order for a total military blockade of Estonia was given to the Soviet Baltic Fleet. Given the overwhelming Soviet force, in order to avoid bloodshed, the military occupation of Estonia was complete by 21 June 1940. The armed forces of Estonia were disarmed in July 1940 by the Red Army according to Soviet orders, only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street, in front of the Tallinn School No.21 continued to resist. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by armoured fighting vehicles, there was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Military resistance ended with negotiations and the Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed, the Eesti Kaitsevägi was restored on 3 September 1991 by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia. Since 1991, the forces of Estonia have re-opened and restored more than 30 old and new units. In peacetime the Estonian Defence Forces and the national defence organisations, in wartime all these components are commanded by the commander-in-chief of the defence forces. The chief of the forces and the commander-in-chief of the defence forces are appointed and released from office by the Riigikogu on the proposal of the President of the Republic of Estonia. Starting from 5 December 2011 the Chief of the Defence is Lieutenant-General Riho Terras, the Kaitseväe Peastaap is the headquarters of the military of Estonia and the working body of the Kaitseväe Juhataja of the defence forces. The General Staff is a joint staff engaged with operational leadership, training, Operational leadership is implemented by the Operational Staff, which plans and controls operations and ensures defence readiness and mobilisation

56.
French Armed Forces
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The French Armed Forces encompass the French Army, the French Navy, the French Air Force, the French National Guard and the National Gendarmerie of France. The President of the Republic heads the armed forces, with the title chef des armées, the President is the supreme authority for military matters and is the sole official who can order a nuclear strike. France maintains the tenth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest armed forces in size in the EU, France also maintains the third largest nuclear deterrent behind only Russia and the United States. The Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, after the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The land of Francia, from which France gets its name, had points of expansion under kings Clovis I. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years War. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, in parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, at the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years War, internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War, France and its allies were victorious this time. The Allies, including the government in exiles Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, as a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a power and since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO. Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of independence, nuclear deterrence. France is a member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATOs military wing, including the Military Committee, France remains a firm supporter of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO-Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation, France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France

57.
Bundeswehr
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The Bundeswehr is the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities. The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain armed forces of their own, the Bundeswehr is divided into a military part and a civil part with the armed forces administration. The military part of the defense force consists of the Heer, Marine, Luftwaffe, Streitkräftebasis, Zentraler Sanitätsdienst. In addition the Bundeswehr has approximately 27,600 reserve personnel. 2%, the Bundeswehr are in the process of integrating smaller NATO members Brigades into divisions of the German army. The Bundeswehr is to play a role as anchor army for smaller NATO states. 2 of 3 Royal Netherlands Army Brigades are now under German Command, in 2014 the 11th Airmobile Brigade, was integrated into the German Division of fast forces. Also the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade, will be integrated into the 1st Panzer Division of the German army, with the integration starting at the beginning of 2016, and the unit becoming operational at the end of 2019. The Dutch-German military cooperation are seen as an example for setting up a European defense union, also the Czech Republics 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade, and Romania’s 81st Mechanized Brigade, will be integrated into Germany’s 10 Armoured Division and Rapid Response Forces Division. The name Bundeswehr was first proposed by the former Wehrmacht general and Liberal politician Hasso von Manteuffel, the Iron Cross is its official emblem. It is a symbol that has an association with the military of Germany. The Schwarzes Kreuz is derived from the black cross insignia of the medieval Teutonic knights, when the Bundeswehr was established in 1955, its founding principles were based on developing a completely new military force for the defence of West Germany. In this respect the Bundeswehr did not consider itself to be a successor to either the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic or Hitlers Wehrmacht, neither does it adhere to the traditions of any former German military organization. One of the most visible traditions of the modern Bundeswehr is the Großer Zapfenstreich, the FRG reinstated this formal military ceremony in 1952, three years before the foundation of the Bundeswehr. Today it is performed by a band with 4 fanfare trumpeters and timpani. The Zapfenstreich is only performed during national celebrations or solemn public commemorations and it can honour distinguished persons present such as the German federal president or provide the conclusion to large military exercises. Another important tradition in the modern German armed forces is the Gelöbnis, there are two kinds of oath, for conscripts/recruits it is a pledge but its a solemn vow for full-time personnel. The pledge is made annually on 20 July, the date on which a group of Wehrmacht officers attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, recruits from the Bundeswehrs Wachbataillon make their vow at the Bendlerblock in Berlin. This was the headquarters of the resistance but also where the officers were executed following its failure

58.
Hungarian Defence Force
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Hungarian Defence Forces is the national defence force of Hungary. The President holds the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence jointly with Chief of staff administers the armed forces, including the Hungarian Ground Force, since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over the army, a subordinate Joint Forces Command is coordinating and commanding the HDF corps. In 2016, the forces had 31.080 personnel on active duty. In 2017, military spending will be $1.21 billion, about 0. 94% of the countrys GDP, in 2012, the government adopted a resolution in which it pledged to increase defence spending to 1. 4% of GDP by 2022. Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime, in a significant move for modernization, Hungary decided in 2001 to buy 14 JAS39 Gripen fighter aircraft for about 800 million EUR. Hungarian National Cyber Security Center is re-organized in 2016 in order to more efficient through cyber security. Hungary sent 300 strong logistics unit to Iraq in order to help the US occupation with armed transport convoys, one soldier was killed in action because of a roadside bomb in Iraq. During the 18th and 19th century, Hungarian Hussars rose to international fame, in 1848–49 HDF achieved incredible successes against better-trained and equipped Austrian forces, despite the obvious advantage in numbers on the Austrian side. In 1872, the Ludovica Military Academy officially began training cadets, by 1873 HDF already had over 2,800 officers and 158,000 men organized into eighty-six battalions and fifty-eight squadrons. During World War I out of the eight million men mobilized by Austro Hungarian Empire, during the 1930s and early 1940s, Hungary was preoccupied with the regaining the vast territories and huge amount of population lost in the Trianon peace treaty at Versailles in 1920. Conscription was introduced on a basis in 1939. The peacetime strength of the Royal Hungarian Army grew to 80,000 men organized into seven corps commands, during World War II the Hungarian Second Army was near to total devastation on banks of the Don River in December 1942 in Battle for Stalingrad. As of 2016 Global Peace Index shows, Hungary is one of the worlds most peaceful countries, since 2007, the Hungarian Defence Force has been under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over the army, the military leadership is exercised by the Defence Staff of the Ministry of Defence. A subordinate Joint Force Command coordinates and commands the HDF corps, the Home Defence Pyrotechnician and Warship Battalion of the Hungarian Defence Forces based in Újpest Port, on the River Danube, Budapest. In the 2000s, the army bought new minesweepers, restored or retired the old ones, on national holidays warships come along the River Danube in Budapest

Hungarian Defence Force
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Operator of Hungarian Army's 34th ’László Bercsényi’ Special Operations Battalion (KMZ) about to storm the unit's own Killing House
Hungarian Defence Force
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Flag and emblem of the Hungarian Defence Force
Hungarian Defence Force
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Infantrymen of Hungarian Army's 25/88th Light Mixed Battalion
Hungarian Defence Force
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The Hungarian Air Force has 14 JAS 39 Gripens on lease, including two two-seaters (C/D versions). The final three aircraft were delivered in December 2007.

59.
Military of Iceland
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Icelands defences consist of the Icelandic Coast Guard, which patrols Icelandic waters and airspace, and other services such as the National Commissioners National Security and Special Forces Units. The Coast Guard consists of three ships and four aircraft and armed with small arms, naval artillery, and Air Defence weaponry, the Coast Guard also maintains the Iceland Air Defence System, formerly part of the disestablished Defence Agency, which conducts ground surveillance of Icelands air space. Units subordinated to the National Commissioner also take part in Icelands defences, additionally there is a Crisis Response Unit, operated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which is a small peacekeeping force that has been deployed internationally, since 2008. This unit also has an unarmed component, furthermore, there is a treaty with the United States regarding the defense of Iceland, the former maintained a military base known as Naval Air Station Keflavik before it was disestablished in 2006. There are also agreements about military and other security operations with Norway, Denmark, Iceland holds the annual NATO exercises entitled Northern Viking. The most recent exercises were held in 2011, as well as the EOD exercise Northern Challenge, in 1997 Iceland hosted its first Partnership for Peace exercise, Cooperative Safeguard, which is the only multilateral PfP exercise so far in which Russia has participated. Another major PfP exercise was hosted in 2000, Iceland has also contributed ICRU peacekeepers to SFOR, KFOR and ISAF. The government of Iceland contributes financially to NATOs international overhead costs and recently has taken an active role in NATO deliberations. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Reykjavík in June 1987 and these armies were divided into units according to the quality of the warriors and by birth. At the end of this period the number of chieftains had diminished and their power had grown and this resulted in a long and bloody civil war known as Age of the Sturlungs. A typical battle involved fewer than 1000 men, amphibious operations were an important part of warfare in Iceland in this period, especially in the Westfjords, but large naval engagements were rare. The largest such engagement, known as Flóabardagi, involved a few ships in Húnaflói. In 1855, the Icelandic Army was re-established by Andreas August von Kohl, in 1856, the king provided 180 rixdollars to buy guns, and a further 200 rixdollars the following year. The sheriff became the Captain of the new army, which known as Herfylkingin. In 1860 von Kohl died, and Pétur Bjarnasen took over command, nine years later Bjarnasen died without appointing a successor, and the army fell into disarray. In 1918, Iceland regained sovereignty as a kingdom under the Danish king. Iceland established a Coast Guard shortly afterwards, but it was impossible to establish a standing army. The government hoped that a permanent neutrality would shield the country from invasion, but at the onset of Second World War, the government was concerned about a possible invasion, and decided to expand the Icelandic National Police and its reserves into a military unit

60.
Italian Armed Forces
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The Italian Armed Forces encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the forces, known as the Carabinieri. These five forces have military status and are all organized along military lines, the President of the Italian Republic heads the armed forces as the President of the High Council of Defence established by article 87 of the Constitution of Italy. According to article 78, the Parliament has the authority to declare a state of war, the ground force of Italy, the Regio Esercito dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1850s and 1860s. During the Cold War the Army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it has seen extensive peacekeeping service in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. On 29 July 2004 it became a professional all-volunteer force when conscription was finally ended, the navy of Italy was created in 1861, following the proclamation of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy, as the Regia Marina. The new navys baptism of fire came during the Third Italian War of Independence against the Austrian Empire, during the First World War, it spent its major efforts in the Adriatic Sea, fighting the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In the Second World War, it engaged the Royal Navy in a struggle for the control of the Mediterranean Sea. After the war, the new Marina Militare, being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, has part in many coalition peacekeeping operations. The Guardia Costiera is a component of the navy, the air force of Italy was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923, by King Vittorio Emanuele III as the Regia Aeronautica. During the 1930s, it was involved in its first military operations in Ethiopia in 1935, eventually, Italy entered World War II alongside Germany. After the armistice of 8 September 1943, Italy was divided two sides, and the same fate befell the Regia Aeronautica. The Air Force was split into the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force in the south aligned with the Allies, when Italy was made a republic by referendum, the air force was given its current name Aeronautica Militare. The Arma dei Carabinieri is the gendarmerie and military police of Italy, the corps was instituted in 1814 by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps, it is therefore older than Italy itself. The new force was divided into divisions on the scale of one division for each province of Italy, the Italian unification saw the number of divisions increased, and in 1861 the Carabinieri were appointed the First Force of the new national military organization. In recent years Carabinieri units have been dispatched on peacekeeping missions, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, Italy did take part in the 1982 Multinational Force in Lebanon along with US, French and British troops. As part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Italy contributed to the operation in Afghanistan. Italian forces have contributed to ISAF, the NATO force in Afghanistan, Italian forces also command a multinational engineer task force and have deployed a platoon of Carabinieri military police

61.
Latvian National Armed Forces
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The Latvian National Armed Forces are the armed forces of the Republic of Latvia. The National Armed Forces consists of Land Forces, Naval Forces, Air Force, National Guard, Latvia has switched to a professional army, the last draft was in 2005. From January 1,2007, the Latvian army is fully contract-based, the mission of the National Armed Forces is to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation and to defend its population against foreign or domestic armed aggression. Ensure modernization and enhancement of professional training, The Latvian armed forces were first formed after the new state was created after World War I. At the end of the Latvian War of Independence, the Latvian Army consisted of 69,232 men, after the Soviet occupation of Latvia in June 1940 the annihilation of the Latvian army began. The army was renamed the People’s Army and in September–November 1940- the Red Army’s 24th Territorial Rifle Corps, the corps comprised the 181st and 183rd Rifle Divisions. In September the corps contained 24,416 men but in more than 800 officers. The arrests of soldiers continued in the following months, in June 1940, the entire Territorial Corps was sent to Litene camp. Before leaving the camp, Latvians drafted in 1939 were demobilised, on June 10, the corps senior officers were sent to Russia where they were arrested and most of them shot. On June 14 at least 430 officers were arrested and sent to Gulag camps, simultaneously, many soldiers and officers deserted and when the corps crossed the Latvian border only about 3,000 Latvian soldiers remained. There are 4,763 active duty personnel in the NAF, there are 971 soldiers in the Latvian Land Forces,552 in the Latvian Naval Forces,251 in the Latvian Air Force with the balance in the other commands. There are 10,642 voluntary national guardsmen with 1,284 officers and 1,945 non-commissioned officers in the Latvian National Guard, there are 1,288 civil employees serving in the NAF. Along with providing for defence, the NAF will also react immediately to threats to other allies. Latvia cooperates with Estonia and Lithuania in the joint infantry battalion BALTBAT, currently, NATO is involved in the patrolling and protection of the Latvian air space as the Latvian military does not have the means to do so. For this goal a rotating force of four NATO fighters, which comes from different nations, after joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Latvia has undertaken obligations to strengthen common defence within the scope of its capabilities. For this purpose, every NATO member state delegates its military formations — fast response, after joining NATO, the foundation of the Latvian defence system has shifted from total territorial defence to collective defence. Latvia has acquired small but highly professional troop units that have fully integrated into NATO structures. NAF soldiers have participated in operations since 1996

62.
Lithuanian Armed Forces
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The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of 20565 active personnel. Conscription was ended in September 2008 but was reintroduced in 2015 because of concerns about the environment in light of Russias military intervention in Ukraine. Lithuanias defence system is based on the concept of total and unconditional defence mandated by Lithuanias National Security Strategy, the goal of Lithuanias defence policy is to prepare their society for general defence and to integrate Lithuania into Western security and defence structures. The defence ministry is responsible for combat forces, search and rescue, a special security department handles VIP protection and communications security. Directly subordinated to the Chief of Defence are the Special Operations Forces, the Reserve Forces are under command of the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. The core of the Lithuanian Land Force structure is the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade consisting of three mechanized infantry battalions and artillery battalion, the Lithuanian Land forces are undertaking a major modernization. New weapons and heavier armour are going to be acquired, in 2007 the Land forces bought the German Heckler & Koch G36 rifle to replace the older Swedish Ak-4 as main weapon. There are plans to buy new Infantry fighting vehicles, the volunteers have already successfully participated in international operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. The NDVF consists of six territorial units, the Lithuanian Air Force is an integral part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The LAF is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel, units are located at various bases across Lithuania, Kaunas, Karmėlava, Nemirseta, Šiauliai, Radviliškis. The initial formation of the LAF was the 2nd transport squadron with the transfer of 20 An-2 aircraft from civilian to military use and these were joined by four L-39C Albatros aircraft purchased from Kazakhstan as part of the intended 16 to be used by the 1st fighter squadron. Mil Mi-8 helicopters were modernised by LAF, in 20082 medium-range radars were acquired for the Air Forces Airspace Surveillance and Control Command. Air space is patrolled by jet fighters from other NATO members, the European Unions External border is patrolled by Aviation Unit of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service which received new helicopters EC-120, EC-135 and EC-145. The Navy has over 600 personnel, the flotilla is the core component of the Navy, and consists of the Mine Countermeasures Squadron, the Patrol Ships Squadron, and the Harbour Boats Group. The current Commander in Chief of the Lithuanian Navy is Rear Admiral Kęstutis Macijauskas, the Naval base and Headquarters are located in the city of Klaipėda. The Navy uses patrol ships for coastal surveillance, the four newly acquired Flyvefisken class patrol vessels replaced the older Storm class patrol boats and Grisha class corvettes. SOF is formed from the Special Operations Unit, SOF are responsible for the following tasks, special reconnaissance, direct actions, and military support. It is also in charge of tasks, e. g. protection of VIP in peacetime

63.
Luxembourg Army
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The Luxembourg Army is the national military of Luxembourg. The army has been a force since 1967. It has a current strength of approximately 450 professional soldiers—340 enlisted recruits and 100 civilians—with a total budget of $369 million, the army is under civilian control, with the Grand Duke as Commander-in-Chief. The Minister for Defence, currently Etienne Schneider, oversees army operations, the professional head of the army is the Chief of Defence, who answers to the minister. Luxembourg troops have deployed to Afghanistan, to support ISAF. The army has also participated in relief missions such as setting up refugee camps for Kurds. The law fixed the militias strength at 3,000 men, until 1840, Luxembourg’s militiamen served in units of the Royal Netherlands Army. Enlisted men served for five years, the first year consisted of active service, in 1839, William I became a party to the Treaty of London by which the Grand-Duchy lost its western, francophone territories to the Belgian province of Luxembourg. Due to the population having been halved, with the loss of 160,000 inhabitants. In 1846, the cavalry and artillery units were disbanded and the Luxembourg contingent was separated from that of Limburg, the Luxembourg contingent now consisted of two light infantry battalions, one in Echternach and the second in Diekirch, two reserve companies, and a depot company. In 1866, the Austro-Prussian war resulted in the dissolution of the German Confederation, Luxembourg was declared neutral in perpetuity by the 1867 Treaty of London, and in accordance its fortress was demolished in the following years. In 1867, the Prussian garrison left the fortress, and the two battalions of Luxembourgish light infantry entered the city of Luxembourg that September. A new military organization was established in 1867, consisting of two battalions, known as the Corps des Chasseurs Luxembourgeois, having a strength of 1,568 officers. In 1868, the contingent came to consist of one infantry battalion of four companies. On 16 February 1881, the infantry battalion was disbanded with the abolition of the militia-based system. On 16 February 1881, the Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires was established and it was composed of two companies, a company of gendarmes and one of volunteers. In 1939, a corps of volunteers was established and attached to the company of volunteers. This contingent was named the Luxembourg Battery, initially, it was under Belgian officers

Luxembourg Army
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Cap Badge of the Luxembourg Army
Luxembourg Army
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Soldiers of the Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires pose for a photograph, 1910.
Luxembourg Army
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Luxembourg troops training in an English seaside town in 1943.
Luxembourg Army
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A Luxembourg soldier in Korea, 1953.

64.
Polish Armed Forces
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Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland are the national armed forces of the Republic of Poland. The name has been used since the early 19th century, from 2002 until 2014, Polish military forces were part of the Coalition Forces that participated in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan led by NATO. Polands contribution to ISAF was the countrys largest, since its entrance into NATO, Polish forces also took part in the Iraq War. From 2003 to 2008, Polish military forces commanded the Multinational Division located in the South-Central Zone of Iraq, the division was made up of troops from 23 nations and totaled as many as 8,500 soldiers. It is regarded as one of the most professional military in Europe, the List of Polish wars chronicles Polish military involvements since the year 972. The present armed forces trace their roots to the early 20th century, large numbers of Poles also served in the armies of the partitioning powers, Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary and Germany. However, these powers took care to spread Polish soldiers all over their armies, during World War I, the Polish Legions were set up in Galicia, the southern part of Poland under Austrian occupation. They were both disbanded after the Central Powers failed to provide guarantees of Polish independence after the war. General Józef Haller, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, switched sides in late 1917, and via Murmansk took part of his troops to France and it was joined by several thousand Polish volunteers from the United States. It fought on the French front in 1917 and 1918, the Polish Army was recreated in 1918 from elements of the three separate Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Prussian armies, and armed with equipment left following World War I. The force expanded during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1922 to nearly 800,000 men, the Polish Armed Forces in the West comprised army, navy, and air force units, and were loyal to the Polish government-in-exile. Army formations and units included the Polish Army in France, the Polish I Corps in the West, the Polish II Corps, and the rump Command in the Middle East that was briefly designated the III Corps. The Polish Air Force fought in the Battle of France as one squadron, several small units detached to French squadrons. These vessels included the cruisers ORP Dragon and Conrad, seven destroyers, what later became the communist LWP was formed during the Second World War as the Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, also unofficially known as the Berling Army. The majority of officers were Polish, the first Polish force formed in the USSR, the Anders Army, had by that time moved to Iran. Polish forces soon grew beyond the 1st Division into two major commands—the First Polish Army and the Polish Second Army, the Polish First Army participated in the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the Battle of Kolberg before participating in its final offensive with the Battle of Berlin. The Polish Second Army served under command of the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front in 1945, in the east these two armies were supported at times by Polish air units, part of the Air Force of the Polish Army. The communist-aligned Polish military formation was the Peoples Army of Poland, formed in the Soviet Union and it became the core of the armed forces of post-war Poland

65.
Slovenian Armed Forces
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The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a professional standing army. The military history of Slovenia spans less than a hundred years, rudolf Maister, a Slovene major of the former Austro-Hungarian Army, occupied the town of Maribor in November 1918 and claimed it to the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. After a short fight with German Austrian provisional units, the current border was established and it was of negligible importance prior to 1990, with antiquated weapons and few members. The Slovenian Armed Forces were formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the Slovenia Territorial Defence, after 1993, the Slovenian Armed Forces had relied on mandatory military service, with conscripts receiving 6–7 months of training. In 2003, the Slovenian Government abolished conscription and as of July 2004, currently there are approximately 7,300 active troops and approximately 1,500 in reserve, reduced from 55,000 personnel during conscription. A major reorganization of the Slovenian Armed Forces is currently underway with a making them more effective. More than half of all commands have been disbanded which has made commanding the subordinated units easier and faster, soldiers are to be located nearer to their homes in order to minimize travel costs. Reorganization also transformed 72nd Brigade from a unit to a combat unit. Both brigades were added elements, such as Air Defense, Artillery, Intelligence. The operational units now consist of Special Operations Unit, Naval Division, as part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was never a member of the Warsaw Pact. Today, the foreign policy priority of NATO membership drives Slovenias defense reorganization, active in the SFOR deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia is also a charter member of Partnership for Peace and a regular participant in PfP exercises. Slovenia formally joined NATO in March 2004, implementation of interoperability objectives as determined by the Planning and Review Process and the Individual Partnership Program as part of Slovenias PfP participation proceeds. Slovenias elite units already train with and are integrated into international units including NATO members—for example as part of SFOR and its elite mountain troops will be assigned to the Multinational Land Force peacekeeping battalion with Italy, Hungary, and Croatia. Slovenian soldiers are a part of international forces serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chad and they have also served in Cyprus and the Golan Heights as a part of UNFICYP and UNDOF respectively. Slovenia hosts Multinational Centre of Excellence for Mountain Warfare, one of NATO Centres of Excellence, located in Bohinjska Bela and it is responsible for training individuals and units for operation in the mountains and other terrains difficult to pass. The Slovenian Armed Forces are organized as single-branch armed forces with the army as their primary component, the airports official name is Cerklje ob Krki Airbase. The others that are partially military are, Ljubljana Airbase shares the airport with Ljubljana International Airport, one helicopter Bell 412 is stationed there for mountain rescue

66.
Spanish Armed Forces
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The Spanish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Kingdom of Spain. The Spanish Armed Forces are a military force charged with defending the Kingdoms integrity and sovereignty. They consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the King is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, with the title Capitán General de las Fuerzas Armadas. The current Chief of the Defence Staff is General Fernando Alejandre Martínez, the Spanish Armed Forces are active members of NATO, the Eurocorps, the European Union Battlegroups, and also provide peace keeping troops to the United Nations. During the 15th and 16th century, Spain evolved into Europes foremost power with the voyages of Christopher Columbus leading to Spain acquiring vast lands in the Americas. During the reign of Charles V and Philip II, Spain reached the peak of its power with the Spanish Empire spanning 19.4 million square km of the earths surface, a total of 13%. By the mid 17th century this power had weakened by the Thirty Years War along with financial problems. Thanks to these reforms, Spain performed well in the French Revolutionary Wars, the war of Jenkins Ear, the war of Austrian Succession and several other engagements. Following the war, the Spanish military was in condition and political instability resulted in the loss of most of Spains former colonies, except Cuba, Puerto Rico. These too would be lost later in the Spanish–American War, the Spanish armed forces are a professional force with a strength in 2012 of 123,300 active personnel and 16,400 reserve personnel. The country also has the 80,000 strong Civil Guard which comes under the control of the Ministry of Defence in times of a national emergency, the Spanish defence budget is 5.71 billion euros a 1% increase for 2015. The increase comes because of security concerns in the country, the Spanish army consists of 15 active brigades and 6 military regions. Modern infantry have diverse capabilities and this is reflected in the roles assigned to them. There are four operational roles that infantry battalions can fulfil, air assault, armoured infantry, mechanised infantry, the Spanish army has the latest technology at its disposal to preserve the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Spain. The current flagship of the Spanish Navy is the assault ship Juan Carlos 1 which is also used as an aircraft carrier. In addition, the fleet consists of,2 amphibious transport docks,11 frigates,3 submarines,6 mine countermeasure vessels,23 patrol vessels, the total displacement of the Spanish Navy is approximately 220,000 tonnes. As of 2012, the Armada has a strength of 20,800 personnel, the Infanteria de Marina are the marine infantry of the Spanish Navy, the oldest in the world. It has a strength of 5,000 troops divided into base defense forces, one of the three base defense battalions is stationed with each of the Navy headquarters

Spanish Armed Forces
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Tri-service badge

67.
Turkish Armed Forces
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The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, in wartime, they are subordinate to the Army and Navy. The President of Turkey is the overall head. The current Chief of the General staff is General Hulusi Akar, the Chief of the General Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces. In wartime, he acts as the Commander in Chief on behalf of the President of Turkey, furthermore, the General Staff coordinates the military relations of the TAF with NATO member states and other friendly nations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian of Kemalist ideology, the official state ideology, especially of the secular aspects of Kemalism. After becoming a member of NATO on 18 February 1952, Turkey initiated a comprehensive program for its armed forces. The Turkish Army sent troops to fight in Korea, where they played pivotal roles at some points, towards the end of the 1980s, a second restructuring process was initiated. The Turkish Armed Forces participate in European Union battlegroups under the control of the European Council, the TAF also contributes operational staff to the Eurocorps multinational army corps initiative of the EU and NATO. The Turkish Armed Forces collectively rank as the second largest standing military force in NATO, Armed Forces, with an estimated strength in 2015 of 639,551 military, civilian and paramilitary personnel. Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of the sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium, Germany, Italy. After the end of World War I, many Ottoman military personnel escaped from Rumelia to Anatolia in order to part in the national movement. Turkey won the War of Independence in 1922, Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of World War II. In the initial stage of World War II, Turkey signed a treaty of assistance with Great Britain. But after the fall of France, the Turkish government tried to maintain a distance with both the Allies and the Axis. After the German-Soviet War broke out, the Turkish government sent a delegation of observers under Lieutenant General Ali Fuat Erden to the German Eastern Front. Turkey participated in the Korean War as a state of the United Nations and sent the Turkish Brigade to South Korea. On 18 February 1952, Turkey became a member of NATO, the Korean government donated a war memorial for the Turkish soldiers who fought and died in Korea

68.
British Armed Forces
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They also promote Britains wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts, and provide humanitarian aid. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the leading military. The Commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the armed forces by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, as required by the Bill of Rights 1689. The armed forces are managed by the Defence Council of the Ministry of Defence, with the Acts of Union 1707, the armed forces of England and Scotland were merged into the armed forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Britain feared that Russian expansionism in the region would eventually threaten the Empire in India and this ultimately led to British involvement in the Crimean War against the Russian Empire. The beginning of the twentieth century served to reduce tensions between Britain and the Russian Empire, partly due to the emergence of a unified German Empire. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Central Powers, the end of the German Empire, the Treaty of Versailles, once again tensions accumulated in European relations, and following Germanys invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Second World War began. The conflict was the most widespread in British history, with British Empire and Commonwealth troops fighting in campaigns from Europe and North Africa, to the Middle East, approximately 390,000 British Empire and Commonwealth troops lost their lives. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Axis powers and the establishment of the United Nations, reflecting Britains new role in the world and the escalation of the Cold War, the country became a founding member of the NATO military alliance in 1949. By the mid-1970s, the forces had reconfigured to focus on the responsibilities allocated to them by NATO. While NATO obligations took increased prominence, Britain nonetheless found itself engaged in a number of low-intensity conflicts, however the Dhofar Rebellion and The Troubles emerged as the primary operational concerns of the armed forces. Perhaps the most important conflict during the Cold War, at least in the context of British defence policy, was the Falklands War. Since the end of the Cold War, an international role for the armed forces has been pursued, with re-structuring to deliver a greater focus on expeditionary warfare. In addition to the campaign, the British Army has trained and supplied allies on the ground. Figures released by the Ministry of Defence on 31 March 2016 show that 7,185 British Armed Forces personnel have lost their lives in medal earning theatres since the end of the Second World War. As Sovereign and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II is Head of the Armed Forces, the Queen, however, remains the ultimate authority of the military, with officers and personnel swearing allegiance to the monarch. It has been claimed that this includes the power to prevent unconstitutional use of the armed forces, responsibility for the management of the forces is delegated to a number of committees, the Defence Council, Chiefs of Staff Committee, Defence Management Board and three single-service boards. The Defence Council, composed of representatives of the services

British Armed Forces
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The Vulcan Bomber was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War.
British Armed Forces
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Her Majesty's Armed Forces
British Armed Forces
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David Cameron greets Nicolas Sarkozy at Lancaster House, London, before signing the Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty.
British Armed Forces
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Welsh Guards Trooping the Colour 2007

69.
United States Armed Forces
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President

70.
Foreign relations of NATO
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NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these nations, typically based on that countrys location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace, five EU member states, all who have declared their non-alignment with military alliances, are not NATO members, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Malta, and Sweden. Switzerland, which is surrounded by the EU, has maintained their neutrality by staying out of the bloc. All these countries, however, have joined the Partnership for Peace programme, armenia has maintained positive relations with NATO members and has signed up for the Partnership for Peace programme and the Individual Partnership Action Plan. According to a NATO diplomatic source in August 2009 some key officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels were pushing hard for engaging Azerbaijan on the membership question. Turkey, Romania, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, while President Ilham Aliyev has generally supported non-belligerency since his rise to power in 2003, Azerbaijan has hosted NATO military exercises and high-profile meetings in 2009. The unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh would present a major roadblock to membership, Azerbaijan made its policy of not being aligned with a geopolitical/military structure official when it became a full member of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2011. Cyprus is the only EU member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member of the PfP program, turkey, a full member of NATO, is likely to veto any attempt by Cyprus to engage with NATO until the dispute is resolved. The winner of Cyprus presidential election in February 2013, Nicos Anastasiades, has stated that he intends to apply for membership in the PfP program soon after taking over. Finland participates in nearly all sub-areas of the Partnership for Peace programme, however, a 2005 poll indicated that the public was strongly against NATO membership. The possibility of Finlands membership in NATO was one of the most important issues debated in relation to the Finnish presidential election of 2006, the main opposition candidate in the 2006 election, Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party, supported Finland joining a more European NATO. Fellow right-winger Henrik Lax of the Swedish Peoples Party likewise supported the concept, on the other side, president Tarja Halonen of the Social Democratic Party opposed changing the status quo, as did most other candidates in the election. Her victory and re-election to the post of president has put the issue of a NATO membership for Finland on hold for at least the duration of her term. Currently no political party explicitly supports NATO membership, another ex-president, Mauno Koivisto, opposes the idea, arguing that NATO membership would ruin Finlands relations with Russia. As such, Finland participated in the 2015 NATO-led Arctic Challenge Exercise, irish government policy for the deployment of troops to NATO-led missions requires that the missions be mandated by the United Nations, cabinet-backed and approved by Dáil Éireann. This is known as Irelands triple lock, public opinion in Ireland continues to favour a policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, and currently no major political party fully supports ascension into NATO. There has been, and continues to be, a number of politicians who support Ireland joining NATO, mainly within the centre-right Fine Gael party and it is widely understood that a referendum would have to be held before any changes could be made to neutrality or to joining NATO

71.
Atlantic Treaty Association
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The Atlantic Treaty Association is an umbrella organization which acts as a network facilitator in the Euro-Atlantic and beyond. ATA is, however, an independent organization separate from NATO, ATA was created on 18 June 1954. Since the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, in 1992 the ATA Constitution was amended to accommodate associate members and observers from non-NATO countries. Following the ascension of the new NATO countries in 1999 and 2004, ATA membership expanded considerably, and naturally its security focus has shifted south and eastward. The Atlantic Treaty Association seeks, through discussion and political channels, to support the values set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty, Freedom, Liberty, Peace, Security, and the Rule of law. As such, ATA acts as a forum for debate in which member associations can realize common interests, the youth branch of the ATA, the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association was created in 1996. ATA is fully dedicated to engaging the youth of the Euro-Atlantic through close cooperation with its youth division, the Atlantic Treaty Association firmly believes in the strength of the transatlantic relationship – one which is fundamental to the stability of the international system in the 21st century. As such, ATA remains instrumental in bridging values from both sides of the Atlantic in its effort to underpin the broader goals of the NATO Alliance, ATA is composed of three main bodies, the Assembly, the Bureau, and the Council. The Assembly is the top decision-making body of the ATA and is composed of delegates from Member, with the exception of Observer Members, each delegate has one vote and resolutions are passed by a simple majority. The Bureau includes the president, vice presidents, secretary general, treasurer, YATA president, Members of the Bureau assist in carrying out the decisions of the Council and the Assembly and aid in policy matters. The Council comprises Bureau members plus up to three delegates from each of the ATA Member, Associate Member and Observer Member associations, ATA allows the Council to take action on its behalf, with the recommendation of the Bureau and the approval of the Assembly. The Council holds two meetings a year, once at NATO Headquarters and once in a host country, lamers MdB 2015- Fabrizio Luciolli Official website for ATA Official website for YATA

Atlantic Treaty Association
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Presidents [edit]

72.
Mediterranean Dialogue
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The Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is to good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and explaining NATOs policies. The Dialogue reflects NATOs view that security in Europe is tied to the security and stability in the Mediterranean and it also reinforces and complements the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europes Mediterranean Initiative. The Mediterranean Dialogue initially started with five countries but has added two more over time, the ICP covers many areas of common interest, such as the fight against terrorism and joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. More ICP agreements were signed with Egypt and Jordan, and NATO expects further agreements to be signed with additional Mediterranean Dialogue member states in the future, istanbul Cooperation Initiative North Atlantic Council Partnership for Peace Union for the Mediterranean Mediterranean Dialogue website

Mediterranean Dialogue
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NATO member states

73.
December 1989 Brussels summit
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The December 1989 NATO summit was a summit held for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The summit was held in Brussels, Belgium and this summit was the tenth NATO summit to bring world leaders from NATO together. Manfred Wörner headed the summit, and there were sixteen NATO members when the summit was held, in this period, the organization faced conventional questions about whether a new generation of leaders would be as committed to NATO as their predecessors had been. The summit was held during the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and numerous other events were widely discussed during the summit. The summit affirmed its support of reforms in the Eastern Bloc

December 1989 Brussels summit
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Map of NATO members

74.
List of NATO Secretaries General
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The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is the chairman of the North Atlantic Council, the supreme decision-making organisation of the defence alliance. The Secretary General also serves as the leader of the organisations staff, as a matter of tradition, the post of Secretary General is held by a European. This structure is intended to balance the influence of the United States, the Secretary General is selected by consensus among the NATO member states. There is no process for the selection, instead, diplomats from the NATO states informally discuss the matter until a candidate is selected. The Secretary General typically serves for a term, but he or she may be asked to serve for a fifth year or longer. The current Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg, who took office on 1 October 2014, the NATO countries selected the first Secretary General on April 4,1952. Since that time, twelve different diplomats have served officially as Secretary General and they are chosen from eight countries. The position has also been occupied temporarily on three occasions by an acting Secretary General in between appointments

List of NATO Secretaries General
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The 11th Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer meets President George W. Bush on March 20, 2006.
List of NATO Secretaries General
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Paul-Henri Spaak, the second Secretary General
List of NATO Secretaries General
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Manfred Wörner, the seventh Secretary General